


the itty bitty titty committee

by tonicgins



Series: the ittybitty verse [1]
Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F, High School AU, a kitty rescue club!, heejin sucks at math, softball! loona
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24961621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonicgins/pseuds/tonicgins
Summary: Ha Sooyoung returns from her suspension to make a bet with Kim Jungeun. Jung Jinsol is hopelessly caught between the two softball captains and all she wants is her tutoring sessions back.
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Series: the ittybitty verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824559
Comments: 20
Kudos: 91





	1. chapter one

Ha Sooyoung’s time in suspension had ended. Finally. 

For the first time in more than four months, she was finally back. Sooyoung had hardly been near campus grounds, much less on the actual campus itself. The school had since repaired the faulty elevator in the academia block, and even the bleachers looked a little cleaner than they were before. Sooyoung tightened her grip on the duffle bag as she manoeuvred past the other people in the hallway. No matter how much might have changed about the campus, it was clear from the way people’s eyes still followed her that her reputation had stayed. 

She let out a sharp exhale as she finally reached the door to the softball cage, pulling out the keys from beneath her sweater to unlock the door. Her eyes fell on the familiar lockers and benches as she entered the room. “God, it feels good to be back,” she sighed as she dropped the duffle bag onto the floor. The musty, mildewy scent of the cage had never been her favourite, but right now it smelled exactly like home to her. She rested an arm against the wall as she looked fondly at all the softball lockers. 

Every locker had some sort of individual touch to it. The corner of some fabric hanging out from the bottom of the locker, a student council election sticker on the door, a dent on the handle, a faulty combination lock. Sooyoung’s eyes traced the row of lockers, just the ever-familiar names and team numbers of her friends made her heart feel warm inside. Just as she opened her own locker, she heard the door open once again. 

“Hey, you’re here already! Holy shit, it feels like I haven’t seen you in forever!” Sooyoung turned around to see Jungeun standing at the opposite end of the cage with her mouth ajar and her arms opened wide. The younger girl ran into Sooyoung, hugging her tightly. “There is so much you missed, honestly. Just so much drama in committee without you here…” Jungeun let go of Sooyoung as she brought a hand up to push her hair back in exasperation. Sooyoung chuckled, she had missed this. 

“Bring me up to speed, vice cap!” 

\--

Jinsol had made a point to reach campus early that day. For the past three years, she had always been late on the first day of the new term. Maybe it was her bad luck or the fact that she constantly forgot to update her bus schedules, but she was determined to make sure that she would not be late for the first day of her last year of high school. She took quick steps towards the bus stop as she pulled her baseball cap lower down her forehead. In the distance, she could already see Haseul waving happily at her.

As Jinsol neared the bus stop, she could sense Haseul narrowing her eyes at her in some sort of scrutiny. “God, you’re so bold for that,” Haseul frowned as she stared at Jinsol. 

“What? You’re literally the one who told me I would look like a ‘ _very kind and friendly golden retriever_ ’ if I went blonde,” Jinsol retorted as she lifted a strand of her hair from under the baseball cap.

The other girl snorted as she pointed a finger at Jinsol’s shoes. “I meant your ugly ass checkered vans. And I really meant it when I said the bit about the golden retriever. There is just something that makes you look very, very kindly-”

Jinsol rolled her eyes and turned away from the other girl as she fished for her phone inside her tote bag. It had been vibrating for a good few seconds as she continued to rummage through a bunch of old post-its and snack wrappers. Haseul’s nose wrinkled as she watched Jinsol pull out literal trash from her bag and stuff it back into the pockets of her hoodie.

“You know what? I take it back, you’re not a kindly and friendly golden retriever like the one in animal crossing. You’re a common trash panda that lives in the dumpster behind that one _Wendy’s_ that we all hate,” Haseul sighed. 

Jinsoul shot a glare at Haseul as she finally pulled her phone out of her bag. She brought the phone up to her ear, still squinting at Haseul. 

“Yeah, hi! Sorry- Who is this?”

“Oh… OH! I am really sorry about that, I totally forgot. Genuinely, my mind just blanked. Wait, is it too late? I’m already on my way now. I’m so sorry!” Jinsoul frantically put down the call as she winced at the thought of being late yet again. Haseul peered at her in confusion.

Opening her emails, Jinsoul desperately scrolled through the unread emails looking for the one email that she had completely missed. 

“There was this thing… I forgot about it. The tutoring attachment thing that Miss Ahn had me sign on for again, you know? Apparently, we were supposed to have a meeting this morning,” Jinsoul muttered as she continued to look through her phone. 

The shorter girl shook her head, “All those alarms this morning and you still managed to be late for something? It is so hard being you. Look, why don’t you just take a cab to school and I’ll meet you there? I don’t have any classes until like… nine, anyways.”

Jinsoul sighed as she pulled out her wallet and peered into its empty contents. A discount card to a smoothie bar, a shopping list from her mom, more trash. “Haseul… Could you maybe lend me a few dollars? You look so pretty and so… generous today…” Jinsol stifled a laugh. 

“And if you shut up right now, I’ll even pay for the whole ride. Let’s just go,” Haseul groaned as she pinched the corner of Jinsoul’s hoodie and pulled her along.   
\--

The field had become massively overgrown with weeds and clumps of grass over the past few months that Sooyoung hadn’t been around to make sure that the team’s duty roster was completed. Looking across the field, she could hardly see the bases scratched into the ground and even the home plate was threatening to be overrun by a patch of dry-looking grass. She turned to shoot a quizzical look at Jungeun, who was smiling sheepishly back at her. 

“So… maybe I forgot all about the duty roster thing. Give me some credit, Sooyoung. With all that softball re-election stuff and training… At least you can still kind of make out the bases from the way the grass is kinda patchy on them?” The shorter girl pointed vaguely at a few patches of the grassy monstrosity as she dug into the soil with the tip of her cleats. 

Sooyoung sighed as she bent down to tighten her laces.

“So… Is this grass going to mow itself?” 

After ten tedious minutes of trying to find an electrical extension cord to plug the lawnmower into, the two softballers finally made their way back to the field. Jungeun lugged the clunky lawnmower behind her as Sooyoung tried her best to re-discover the bases beneath the clumpy grass patches. “How did you guys even train on this? The ground’s bumpier than that shitty field over at the other school…” 

Jungeun shrugged as she switched the lawnmower on and watched it groan to life. There was a loud sputtering noise as the machine’s blades began to spin. “Jiwoo fell a bunch of times trying to chase the ball into the outfield but it wasn’t too bad. Uh… I think Chaewon fell on her ass trying to catch a curveball once too,” she watched Sooyoung’s eyes narrow as she tapped her fingers against her hip. 

“But at least nobody went to the hospital!” Jungeun raised her hands in defeat as she gestured to Sooyoung to take control of the lawnmower. 

Sooyoung sighed as she pushed the lawnmower across the length of the entire field, alternating with Jungeun every time they reached the end of the field. She could already feel the sweat building up on the back of her neck and sticking to her shirt as they made their way across the field. The pair fell into a comfortable silence as they mowed which was suddenly broken by Jungeun who spun around to face Sooyoung. 

“So… You never told me what happened to that guy from the other team after everything went down,” Jungeun paused in her step as she raised an eyebrow at Sooyoung. Sooyoung turned towards her vice-captain, her eyes still trained on the bleachers in the distance as she took in slow breaths. 

In her mind, she could still taste the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. The feeling of cold, hard dirt under her knees as she bore into the other captain’s jaw with her fist. With one hand closed tightly on the collar of a jersey and the other making contact repeatedly with bone, she could barely feel her own knuckles anymore. Even though she knew Jungeun was pulling her away by the shoulder and could hear the shrillness of the referee’s whistle drawing closer to her, her mind was settled on only one thing. 

“Hm… Three broken ribs, a shattered jaw. Ruptured cornea, too,” Sooyoung said softly as she ran her thumb over the scar on her own knuckle. Jungeun sucked in a shallow breath as she raised her eyebrows in surprise. 

“You did the right thing, you know. I hope you don’t feel too bad about it.”

“I know, I don’t.”

\--

The squeakiness of Jinsol’s slip-ons disrupted the otherwise tranquil silence of the academia block’s hallways. Rushing past science laboratories and classrooms, she finally found herself in the doorway of the conference room. As she stepped into the room, she felt everyone’s gaze landing on her. 

“Sorry… I’m so late…” Jinsol huffed as she bowed hastily at everyone before trying to make her way across the room without making too many squeaky noises. Her eyes swept across everyone in the room as she tried to make sense of who was even in need of her tutoring this semester. She recognised a few of the kids in this room, mostly the jocks who were just in high school for the football and for fraternising. Her eyes landed on the dark-haired girl seated at the back of the room. She was resting her chin on her hand as she stared out the window of the conference room. 

“A softball kid?” Jinsol thought to herself as she eyed the little softball keyring on the girl’s backpack and the letterman jacket hanging off the back of her chair. It was unusual for her to see any of the softballers in tutoring. In fact, someone had told her before that the school had made special arrangements to ensure that none of their star softballers would ever turn up in tutoring or detention. 

Jinsol was still scrutinising the girl when she noticed Miss Anh trying to catch her attention. “Hey, Jung Jinsol? Since you’ve already missed most of the meeting, I’ll just catch you up to speed. So, this semester won’t be too bad! Unlike last semester, I tried my best to give you fewer mentees since you weren’t even supposed to be on the roster. Just two students this time,” the teacher pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Jinsol. 

There were two names on the piece of paper. “Jeon Heejin and… Kim Hyunjin?” Jinsol looked around the room trying to find the two girls. 

“That’s me!” Jinsol looked to her side to see a girl smiling at her with a small wave. She had a hairband on and the dress she was wearing reminded Jinsol faintly of Blair Waldorf.

The girl raised a finger to point at the girl seated at the window with the softball keyring. “I’m Hyunjin. That’s Heejin,” she said as she waved more enthusiastically at the other girl to come over. 

Heejin looked over at the two of them with a pained expression, then smiled tightly at Hyunjin as she slowly got up from her chair and pulled the jacket off the back. Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she slid over a table and looked at Jinsol with apprehension. 

Jinsol cleared her throat as she looked at the two girls with anticipation, “Hi. I’m Jinsol. Really excited to help you guys with… Math? I think, yeah. Do you guys wanna grab a snack at the cafe and we can talk more about what you guys need help with? I’m starved!” The two girls nodded awkwardly at Jinsol as she continued to ramble on as they made their way to the cafe. 

“Dude, her shoes are so loud. She’s wearing clown shoes,” Heejin whispered at Hyunjin as she looked around them to make sure nobody was judging them for Jinsol’s squeaky slip-ons. Hyunjin stifled a giggle as she jabbed Heejin on the shoulder and gestured for her to keep quiet. 

Once Jinsol had ordered her iced coffee and a muffin for each of the girls, she sat down across from them. “I didn’t know what type of muffin you liked so I just got one of each flavour. The blueberry one is always good though, I think. So, tell me about yourselves? What do you guys like about school? Maybe, share with me what club you’re in?” 

Hyunjin let out an excited noise as she pulled out a poster from her backpack and slid it across the table to Jinsol. It was a small yellow poster with a bunch of cats adorning the corners and the words ‘LUNARES HIGH KITTY RESCUE CLUB’ printed in bold font across the centre.

“So the club I’m in is kind of new… but it’s the cat rescue club! It’s my favourite actually, we get to play with the cats from the rescue every week and feed them and stuff. They’re so cute even though they always ignore me… My mom doesn’t allow me to actually own a cat, so this is as good as it gets for me,” Hyunjin sighed as she looked wistfully at the cats on the poster. Heejin patted her on the back sympathetically. 

Jinsol looked expectedly at Heejin. 

“Oh. Me? I’m on the softball team. Go Leopards?” Heejin awkwardly raised her fist in mock excitement as Jinsol nodded politely at her. 

“Okay, cool! Great. So fun. Um, if you guys are curious about me - well, not saying you would even need to be curious. I haven’t had a club since middle school, actually. But I used to like making Gundam models, they’re robots. Tiny robots,” Jinsol cleared her throat again. Heejin’s eyes shifted uncomfortably as the three of them stared at one another as if they were in a scene from an old western movie.

“Right, so you guys need help with math?”

\--

After they made yet another arduous trip back to the electrical supplies room to return the lawnmower, Sooyoung and Jungeun returned to the cage. As the pair entered the room, Sooyoung crumpled onto the benches and looked up at her junior.

Jungeun looked back at Sooyoung in confusion. “What? Do I look funny to you?”

Sooyoung exhaled slowly as her finger traced the shape of what used to be a sticker that was on her locker. “Ah, I can’t believe it’s already going to be my last league championship with you girls. One more season and then it’s goodbye to high school softball forever…” She had a wistful expression as she sighed and threw a few softballs into the locker. 

“What’s your plan for once this is all over?”

“Me? It’s been on my mind since sophomore year if I have to be honest. I’m going to travel - not around the world, obviously. But I’m going to go out there and have as much fun as I can before the whole world kinda goes to shit again with college. Just a solo trip, you know? To give myself some space to breathe. I’ve really been into film these days too, maybe I’ll document my travels.” Sooyoung’s tone seemed to feel lighter as she settled into her daydream of a post-graduation trip. 

She turned away from Jungeun and stared at the ceiling. “You haven’t told me how re-elections went. I already know you’ll succeed me. But who’s _your_ successor?”

A pregnant pause ensued as Sooyoung heard the opening and closing of a creaky locker. The sounds of Jungeun’s footsteps moving away and then returning as she wiped the sweat away from her forehead. 

“So, the thing is… We might have a small problem,” Jungeun began as she watched the captain’s face for any sign of emotion. She sat down opposite from Sooyoung and began to undo the laces of her cleats. 

Sooyoung hummed in response as she opened her eyes to look at Jungeun. 

“What type of problem?”

“Heejin got elected to be the next vice-captain.”

A nod from Sooyoung, “I always knew she had the potential to be captain one day.”

“But she also flunked out on finals and has to attend compulsory tutoring sessions now.”

Sooyoung sat up abruptly, palms slapping against the benches as she pushed herself up. The thud reverberated through the room, causing Jungeun to almost fall off the bench in surprise. The taller girl stood up, hands resting on her hips as she let out a long deep breath. 

“That’s going to be a hell of a problem, then.”

The National High School Softball League Championships were coming up for the girls in just under two months. This meant that Sooyoung needed absolutely all hands on deck during training, which was especially the case for Heejin if she was to be the next in line for the captaincy. And with the new intensity of championship training, it meant the whole team would have to stick around after hours to put in extra work every day for the next two months. 

Jungeun watched Sooyoung closely as the older girl rubbed her temples in despair. 

“Are you sure there’s no way we can get the coach to sign off on her missing some of those lessons or whatever? I’m sure Principal Kim would be more than happy to let her off for the sake of the league title. God, I’m going to have to talk to Heejin too…. What was she thinking jeopardising the team with her studies?” 

Jungeun shook her head as she watched Sooyoung sink back onto the bench with her head between her hands. “Sooyoung, you know Heejin has been struggling with her studies for a long time. Ever since freshman year, actually. You’ve got to go easy on her, alright? Try to remember that she looks up to you. A lot. You’re practically her softball hero, Sooyoung.” 

The vice-captain took a seat next to her senior and rested an arm around her shoulder. She patted the latter’s back gently as she sighed. “I trust you’ll be able to make it work. Don’t worry too much, yeah?”

Sooyoung looked at Jungeun with tears almost welling up in her eyes. 

“Thanks, Jungeun.”

\--

Heejin looked at her phone awkwardly as she waited for Jinsol to prompt her to do something. The three girls had settled into an awkward silence as they waited for someone to rejuvenate the conversation. Jinsol lifted her iced coffee to her lips, missing her straw and stabbing herself in the lip instead. 

“Ow. This must be what it feels like to be a turtle,” Jinsol let out a weak laugh as she repositioned the straw and took a long sip of coffee. Hyunjin felt her phone vibrate once in her lap and she looked down discreetly to read the notification.

[One (1) New Text from heekki]

‘help this is so awkward is she going to just sit with us until we all have to go to class ugh’

Hyunjin looked up at Heejin and simply shrugged at her. 

[One (1) New Text from hyunjin <3]

‘y not u just tell her we have some classes in 10 minutes and then we can leave lol’

Heejin frowned.

[One (1) New Text from heekki]

‘no u do it then’

Hyunjin sighed as she coughed awkwardly to get Jinsol’s attention. “Thanks for um… taking the time to tutor us even though it’s your senior year. We have some classes to attend really soon, so maybe we’ll just see you on Wednesday?”

The blonde nodded as she put her iced coffee back down and looked at the two girls with excitement. “Yes, of course! Hey, give me your numbers just in case I need to send you guys some reminders or something.”

Jinsol smiled tightly as she pulled her phone out of her tote bag and passed it to Heejin. 

“I’ll add yours too…” Heejin mumbled as she keyed in Hyunjin’s number perfectly.

“Wait what? You remember my number?” Hyunjin whispered in shock as she felt a slight blush spread across her cheeks. 

  
Once the phone had returned into Jinsol’s hands, she quickly deposited it back into her tote bag and waved at the girls. “Have a good day in class!”

\--

If only Sooyoung could remember where the conference room was now. The months she had spent away from the campus had made her feel quite literally alienated from the entire layout of the academic block which was now a maze to her. She paced hastily down the halls, peering into every single room to look for a trace of Heejin. 

“Is she even still in the conference room? That meeting should have been over like an hour ago…” Sooyoung thought to herself as she continued to make her way through the hallways. As she walked by the corridors, she caught snippets of the conversations that passed by her. 

“Ha Sooyoung, back already? That was fast… I heard she was sent to reform camp…”

“Isn’t that the senior who got suspended for fighting with that boy from Eastside High?”

“Keep it down! If she hears you, who knows what she’ll do to you?”

Sooyoung could only let out a sharp breath as she grit her teeth and focussed on finding Heejin. Just as she turned the corridor, she caught sight of a blonde girl leaning against the wall with a book in hand. Her eyes fell on the baseball logo embroidered onto the front of the cap, the emblem of her personal favourite baseball team. 

“Hmm… Nice cap,” Sooyoung thought to herself as she passed by the girl and made her way down the staircase. 

\--

By the time Sooyoung could finally locate Heejin, she was more than ready to lay it all out for her. She was determined to serve Heejin an ultimatum, it was either strap in and get ready for the ride to championships or get out. But there was something so enduring about seeing Heejin fast asleep at her desk with her earphones in that made Sooyoung feel all soft inside. 

Sooyoung patted Heejin on the back gently as she leaned on the corner of the desk. Heejin looked up from the desk blearily as she tried to make out who had awoken her. 

“Oh, Sooyoung! You’re back! Don’t worry, we trained hard in your absence!” Heejin smiled brightly at Sooyoung as she rearranged her things to make space for Sooyoung. 

Sooyoung huffed out as she smiled fondly back at Heejin. “Yeah, Jungeun told me that the team really put in the work. Listen, I need to talk to you about your academics. Specifically about the fact that you flunked out. What happened?”

Heejin’s face fell as she looked away from Sooyoung, afraid to make eye contact with her. She bit her lip as she felt guilt well up from within her, tears threatening to form in her eyes. “Sooyoung… I’m sorry I let the team down. I’ll try harder to keep up this year, I promise. It’s just that math is really hard for me. But I won’t let this get in the way of my training, I swear.” 

“I see. And what about your tutoring sessions? They clash with training sessions, Heej.” 

The younger girl gripped tightly at the sleeves of her jacket as she looked up at Sooyoung. “I don’t know… I’ll rearrange them… I’ll let Jinsol know I can’t attend if there’s a training session at the same time. I’m going to try my best, Sooyoung.” 

Looking at Heejin’s soft, pleading eyes, Sooyoung felt weak. 

“Yeah, alright. I’ll see you at practice then.”

\--

The school cafeteria was a chaotic mess by the time Jinsol had made it down from her biology lab session. The cafeteria tables had been somewhat colonised by every single stereotypical high school clique as per high school tradition, the lines for food were astronomically long and worse of all, the fans in the cafeteria had stopped working. She looked everywhere for Haseul, finally finding her at a table with a bunch of girls she had never seen before. 

“Even after four years here, I still have not gotten used to the disgusting mess that is our cafeteria. It just smells like cheese and gym socks in here, ugh.” Jinsoul groaned as she slumped into her seat next to Haseul. Noticing that the other girls were peering at her in a friendly way, she turned to Haseul again. 

“Oh, Jinsol! This is my foreign exchange buddy, Vivi. These are her schoolmates, Tzuyu and Shuhua.” The three girls waved brightly at Jinsol as they continued their conversation, leaving Jinsol and Haseul to talk. 

Jinsol tilted her head as she turned to Haseul. “So this is the student welcome committee thing you were planning for over the past month, huh? How did you guys even manage to find these unwitting foreign students who were willing to come to our school?”

The shorter girl pointed a fork in Jinsol’s direction. “Did you forget? Our president is literally Song Yuqi. She’s known for being a god at making connections. Anyways, she said she found them through her friends from her international school. Now, why would anyone even transfer from an international school to this?” Jinsol groaned in response as she grimaced at the state of the cafeteria.

“So, how was the first bio lab of the semester? Did you manage to get to use your favourite bench again?” Haseul snorted as she watched Jinsol’s mouth fall ajar. 

Jinsol swatted at Haseul, “There is nothing wrong with having a favourite bench in the lab! It just feels like that particular bench passed… a vibe check or something.” 

Haseul rolled her eyes, “Alright, nerd. What about the tutoring thing? Did it work out?”

“Yeah, it was kind of awkward but at least the kids are really nice. They seem to be really good friends too, which is good. It’ll definitely take time for us to warm up to one another though,” Jinsol recounted the awkwardness of their time spent at the cafe as she shuddered. 

The three foreign exchange girls suddenly gestured at Jinsol. 

“Hey, what’s good to eat around here? Haseul says the pizza is ‘not bad’ and that the macaroni is ‘edible’ but they don’t sound too good…” Vivi gave Haseul the side-eye as she leaned towards Jinsol. 

“If somebody doesn’t _expeditiously_ offer some better food suggestions soon… I would kill for some cup noodles right now,” Shuhua hissed as she watched another girl carry a tray full of gross looking macaroni past their table. 

Jinsol laughed, “Honestly, I think they sell cup noodles at the convenience store across campus. Do you guys wanna head out for that instead?”

“Oh my god, you’re a genius!” Haseul jumped up from her seat and gestured for the foreign exchange girls to follow her. 

\--

It was nearly 2 am when Jinsol heard a ping from her phone. She looked up from her study notes for the first time in hours and picked up her phone to read the notification on the lit-up screen. 

[One (1) New Text from Heejin]

‘hi jinsol sorry to message u so late but i kind of have to tell u something’

Jinsol’s interest was piqued as she lifted the phone to her face to unlock it. 

> To: Heejin

‘yeah, of course! what did u need to talk about :]’

<From: Heejin

‘i dont think i can attend tutoring sessions with u after school anymore. they kinda clash with my training and since league szn is coming up i cant miss any training sessions. sorry’

>To: Heejin

‘wait, what? i’m actually not sure if i’m allowed to let you skip sessions actually. maybe we can do them during breaks? weekends?’ 

<From: Heejin

‘lemme ask my captain about that cuz she said we might have weekend trainings too but if we dont weekends would be good thanks’

>To: Heejin

‘can’t your captain let you skip some training sessions for tutoring? it’s only once a week :]’

<From: Heejin

‘captain ha is kinda scary and she will probs say no and i am scared of her’

‘she is scary but nice’

‘captain ha is just really strict about training sorry’

>To: Heejin

‘what if i asked for you? would that work?’

<From: Heejin

‘u can try but she is scary’

‘oh nvm i just realised u are her age’

‘she is still scary tho’

>To: Heejin

‘alright, no worries! i’m sure she’ll understand why it’s important to get your grades back on track! sleep well and don’t worry about it :] goodnight!’

<From: Heejin

‘thank u jinsol u too’

‘btw ur shoes were kinda noisy just now’

‘theyre cool tho i want them’

>To: Heejin

‘thank you! i like them too :]’

Jinsol put her phone back down and leaned back in her chair as she contemplated how she would even approach the softball captain. She had heard rumours floating around the campus of Ha Sooyoung’s suspension. Not to mention, Ha Sooyoung was barely a person with whom Jinsol had anything in common with. 

“Whatever, I’m sure she’ll understand why Heejin can’t miss the tutoring sessions. And if she doesn’t? Ah! It’s a bridge I’ll cross if I get there,” Jinsol sighed as she contemplated how the confrontation would go down.

\--

In the mornings, the campus was always eerily quiet. The halls would be empty, the classrooms would be dark and even the cafeteria would smell moderately less rank than it usually was. Jungeun valued the fact that she was a morning person, it allowed her to enjoy quiet moments such as these. As she made her way onto the field with her cleats hanging around her neck, she spied a small figure in the distance. 

Sooyoung had arrived even earlier than Jungeun for once. She had completed her stock-taking of the cage’s inventory and was now batting balls into a net. “Damn, early bird! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here this early. What’s new?” Jungeun called out to Sooyoung as she sat down at the edge of the bleachers. 

Sooyoung panted as she ran back to the bleachers, bat slung across her shoulders. “Just really missed being out here on the field, feeling the grass and that sound it makes when you know you’ve literally hit it out of the park.”

The pair of them laughed as they remembered the time Jungeun swung her bat and sent the ball flying out of the court and into the carpark outside. It broke the windscreen of a stranger’s car and they had to scrape funds together to reimburse the owner for the damages. “Good times… Good times…” Jungeun chuckled as she wiped a tear out of her eye from the laughter.

“You know what, that was the moment I knew you were going to be an amazing captain.”

Jungeun perked up, looking incredulously at Sooyoung. “What, when I broke the windscreen of a stranger’s car?”

“No, idiot. After that, when we all ran outside to see where the ball had gone and we found the broken windscreen and all. You know what you said? You said, ‘ _Oh shit, alright. Don’t panic guys, it’s my fault. Guess that’s going out of my part-time work check this month._ ’ That’s when I knew you were a really nice kid, someone I could rely on as my vice-captain,” Sooyoung turned to Jungeun with a warm smile as she rested an arm around the younger girl’s shoulders. 

“Hm… And how did it go with Heejin yesterday?” 

Jungeun watched Sooyoung’s shoulders rise and fall as she turned to look back at the field. 

“She said she’ll try her best. I believe in her almost as much as I believed in you, it’ll work out.”

\--

“Remember when I said your shoes were a bold choice yesterday? Scratch that. Now, this is a bold move. You’re going to confront Ha Sooyoung over your tutoring kid’s sessions?” Haseul stared at Jinsol incredulously as Jinsol pulled her knees up onto the bench. Jinsol scoffed, “It is not going to be a confrontation because I am not going to fight with her! It’s just… I have Heejin’s best interests at heart.”

Haseul shook her head in disbelief as she watched Jinsol place her chin on her knees. She could never understand how Jinsol’s mind functioned. Ever since they were kindergarten classmates, Jinsol had always been the one to reach out to people completely unprovoked. Whether it was a new kid who didn’t have any friends yet or a bully who picked on her classmates, it always had to be Jinsol who had the guts to go up to them and do something about it. 

Yet, this was the same Jinsol who once hid in a bathroom for two hours instead of attending her classes in middle school because she was afraid she would see a teacher that she had once called ‘mom’ on accident. 

“You’re so weird but honestly, I dig it. Whatever it is, they can’t possibly suspend Ha Sooyoung again anyways,” Haseul raised her eyebrows at Jinsol knowingly. Jinsol tilted her head at the thought.

“Honestly I don’t know what to think, Haseul. I overheard someone saying that she did it because the other captain had insulted her teammates or something. I guess... she must have had a reason to snap?”

Haseul shook her head and shrugged, “Whatever you need to hear to make yourself feel more confident that she won’t beat you up! Good luck!”  
\--

The first time Jinsol had even heard of Sooyoung was in their first month of high school. It was right after freshman orientation week and Sooyoung had already built quite a reputation for herself. While Jinsol was still struggling to speak to anybody besides Haseul, rumours had spread amongst their batch that Sooyoung had been seen on dates with a bunch of girls from the junior batch. From that point on, it was a never-ending rotation of girls - or so it seemed. And although Jinsol would have never admitted it, she wondered what it would be like to be in the shoes of one of those girls. After all, Sooyoung was definitely one of the hottest girls on campus and she clearly had the charisma to match her looks. 

Jinsol shook away the thought of Sooyoung’s reputation as she made her way up to class. The last time she had even been in the same class as Sooyoung was in their sophomore year and it was hardly a good year for Jinsol. Sophomore year had been the year of a terrible haircut, freshly-removed braces and a fashion sense that was still fresh out of rehabilitation for Jinsol. Even the memory of having to straighten her hair every morning made her shudder. 

As Jinsol reached her locker, she caught sight of the softball captain at the next row of lockers. Sooyoung’s slender form leaned against the lockers as she laughed at a joke that a shorter blonde girl had made. Her shorter hair was slicked back today and her arm was resting casually against the shoulder of the other softball captain, Jungeun. 

Taking in a deep breath, Jinsol made her way over to the group of softballers. The moment she approached the group, they all fell silent and looked at her in confusion. Jinsol felt intimidated just standing there as her breath hitched in her throat. Sooyoung tipped her head down at Jinsol, looking at her in curiosity. 

“You’re looking for…?” Jungeun began to speak cautiously as she watched Jinsol’s eyes dart anxiously across the group of softballers. Jinsol’s lips parted as she looked directly at Sooyoung.

“Sooyoung. You’re the softball captain, right? I need to… talk to you,” Jinsol said nervously as Sooyoung shrugged and gestured for Jinsol to follow her to the side. 

Chaewon’s face contorted into a strained expression as she watched the pair disappear around the corner of the lockers, “I thought she said she didn’t do blondes!” 

\-- 

Suddenly, Jinsol was overly aware of the squeaking sounds from her shoes. She could feel the heat rising along her back as she trailed behind the softball captain awkwardly, her tote bag sling hanging precariously off her shoulders. Sooyoung stopped and turned around to face Jinsol, who had abruptly stopped as well. 

“Oh! Woah, we are way too close!” Jinsol awkwardly extended her arms to space herself apart from Sooyoung as she cleared her throat. Sooyoung shook her head and went back to leaning with her shoulder against the wall as she looked expectantly at the blonde in front of her. 

Jinsol linked her fingers together as she looked directly at Sooyoung. 

“So, I know you don’t really know me but we do have a friend - well, junior - in common. Heejin?”

Sooyoung nodded as she watched Jinsol carefully, so this was the girl who was tutoring Heejin? “Yeah, what about her?”

“Heejin is my tutoring kid. My tutoring mentee, I mean. She told me she wouldn’t be able to make it for tutoring due to training?” 

“That’s right… I might have reminded her that championships are coming up in less than two months. Why? Is that going to be a problem with you?”

The smug look on Sooyoung’s face was making Jinsol heat up, in more ways than one. “Sooyoung, I know you care about Heejin. She needs the help, like really badly. I’ve seen some of her work and it’s not looking too good. Look, I can tell she cares about your opinion a ton. Could you reassure her that it would be okay to miss a few training sessions for tutoring? It’ll only be once a week, I assure you.”

“Hmm… No,” Sooyoung’s lips curled into a smirk as she eyed Jinsol’s surprised expression. “I see where you’re coming from… Jin… Seol? And while I am really glad to see that you care about the kid so much, it’s really not a good time right now. You may not realise it, but the national championship league is a pretty big fucking deal. So, I’d appreciate it if you let it go for the next two months. After that, she’s all yours. You can have her every day.”

Jinsol hardly ever lost her temper, but maybe it was that deliberately weak attempt at even remembering her name which made a switch inside her flip. 

“First of all, it’s Jinsol. We’ve been school mates for what… four years now? Second of all, you need to stop being so selfish. If Heejin doesn’t make her finals this year, she’ll be held back a year. Do you know how hard that’s going to be for her?”

“Sounds like another year of being on the softball team to me.”

“You’re incorrigible, Sooyoung. I hope it makes you happy to know that someone else is going to have to have a sucky life just because you couldn’t let go of a stupid sports competition. You think you’re hot shit because everyone in this school is drunk on softball culture and it disgusts me. It’s people like you who make me sick.”

Jinsol recoiled in surprise at her own words as she slowly realised what she had just done. She watched as Sooyoung’s smirk curled even further upward as she let out a patronising sigh. 

“You know what, you said a lot there. Now I’m not sure if I heard you right, but I’m pretty sure you just used the word ‘hot’ in relation to me. So, thank you very much for the compliment, Jin. Sol.” Sooyoung leaned into Jinsol as she perfectly enunciated the last two words. 

“Now, if that’s all you had to say to me…” Sooyoung flashed one last smug grin at Jinsol as she slunk past her and took her place back in her circle of friends.

Jinsol clenched and unclenched her jaw as she silently seethed at Sooyoung. She could feel the warmth in her cheeks spreading to the tips of her ears. It was one thing for her to be shot down by someone that quickly, but for her to be slightly attracted by it? Jinsol felt a tinge of disgust at herself for even thinking that the softball captain was anything close to being attractive, much less in the manner she had just spoken to Jinsol in. 

“Fucking hell, Ha Sooyoung,” Jinsol groaned to herself as she pulled her tote bag back up her shoulder and stormed angrily off to her first-period homeroom.

\--

It was during the middle of a particularly long and boring history lesson when Heejin’s phone lit up. There were at least five new notifications from the softball exco team’s group chat. “What even? It’s the middle of the day…” Heejin slid her phone onto her lap as she scrolled through the messages.

[Five (5) New Texts from the itty bitty titty committee]

> jiwoo  
‘i cant stand these gays anymore theyre mad for this’

> GOwon  
‘remind me never to ever ask sooyoung whether shes into blondes ever again’

>jiwoo  
‘heejin u did dis’

‘heejin come online’

‘if u dont come online rn im calling hyunjin to tell u to check ur texts’

<heejin is ONLINE>

>jiwoo  
‘oh see shes whipped’

<heejin  
‘stfu’

‘now what happened’

> GOwon  
‘ugh let me just’

<GOwon has attached One (1) Voicenote>

>>> HEEJIN, you won’t believe what jungeun and sooyoung are doing now. i literally hate them so much. just now, that blonde girl who is supposed to give you tutoring came up to us looking for sooyoung. now, i really didn’t know who the hell she was. and i was like ‘woah sooyoung’s into blondes now? guess i’m not safe then’ so i waited for sooyoung to come back. but when she came back jiwoo and jungeun were being stupid or whatever so i asked sooyoung: ‘youre into blondes now or what?’ AND ON GOD? i did not know what i started because then-

>jiwoo   
‘her phone just crashed lmaoooooooooo’

‘whatever we’ll just tell u later’

‘when do u end tho bc im not waiting longer than an hour’

\--

“You’re into blondes now or what?” Chaewon eyed Sooyoung suspiciously as the taller girl re-entered their circle. Sooyoung let out a strained chuckle as she shook her head at the group of girls. 

“Won, she’s not a conquest. She wanted me to go easy on Heej and let her skip some training sessions for tutoring sessions. Anyways, one thing led to another and suddenly she was going off at me. It’s weird though, she said we were classmates but I don’t remember her at all,” Sooyoung frowned as she tried to recall if there had ever been a ‘Jinsol’ in her classes before. 

Jiwoo raised her eyebrows, “She’s cute, though? Kinda awkward, but she’s cute!”

“Yeah, I think I would have noticed her if she was in my classes,” Jungeun smirked at Sooyoung.

Sooyoung scoffed at Jungeun, “Please. Have some respect for the sport. Anyways, it’s all about the thrill of the chase.”

“The chase? You just said she went off at you. Now, why would she even be interested in you?” Chaewon rolled her eyes at the pair of useless gays across from her.

Suddenly, Jungeun’s eyes lit up with a devilish gleam as she eyed Sooyoung intensely. “The thrill of the chase? Alright. Remember that big grad trip you wanted to go on? The one you’ve been planning since you were in sophomore year?”

Sooyoung listened intently, “Go on.”

“Let’s make a bet. We have from now until championships. The both of us in a bid to score that cute blonde by the championship league finals. If you score, I’ll pay for your entire grad trip. The plane ticket, the accommodation, everything. But if I score first, you’ll have to agree to pay for the whole team’s equipment for the next year. Plus, you owe me free flow meals until the end of the year. Sounds like a deal, captain?” Jungeun extended a hand out to Sooyoung as Jiwoo and Chaewon watched in horror. 

Jiwoo leaned towards Chaewon, “Is it just me, or is this bordering on objectification?”

“They’re treating her like a 20 piece chicken nugget set meal… I don’t like it,” Chaewon whispered back.

Sooyoung took Jungeun’s hand in hers firmly.

“Deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and do drop a kudos if you'd so please!


	2. chapter two

_ It was getting unbearable, frankly.  _

Jiwoo cleared her throat as she looked at the two girls across the room from her. “I am very uncomfortable with the energy we’ve created in the cage today,” she whispered as she nudged Chaewon with her elbow. The younger girl’s eyebrows furrowed as she daintily removed her Airpods, “Sorry Jiwoo, say that again. I couldn’t hear you over the sound of my latest release on Soundcloud.” 

“That stupid bet that Jungeun and Sooyoung made… It’s ruining the vibes of the whole cage. Ever since last week, those two have been making these gross smug faces at one another. God, I think I’m going to be sick…” Jiwoo rolled her eyes as she watched Jungeun attempt to flex her muscles while Sooyoung cracked the muscles in her back with exaggerated force.

Chaewon snorted, “She’s really going to just break her whole back one of these days… That’s how my grandma got her hip fracture.” 

The two girls looked up at the ancient analogue clock that was hanging above them in the locker room. It was close to four in the afternoon, and still, nobody had heard from Heejin. It was supposed to be the girls’ first intense training session of the championship league season and it was becoming clearer by the minute that Sooyoung was absolutely set on reaching the nationals this year. In her past three years of high school softball, Sooyoung had managed to lead the team to the finals of their regionals. Not only had this cemented the fact that her leadership was unrivalled in nature, but it had also shown the entire team how fearsome she was when she had her sights set on something.

Between the two of them, the girls had always looked to Jungeun for a more rational approach to training. While Sooyoung was placed in charge of organising physical training regimes and duty rosters, it was mostly Jungeun who was responsible for boosting team morale and making sure that every member of the team was up to speed. 

Jungeun had always thought it was ironic, her being the emotional support pillar of the team. After all, she had grown up in a household of stoics and had hardly been shown any affection herself. Nonetheless, she always felt a sense of duty and responsibility to the girls whenever they would come to her crying after practices or in between lessons. Whether it was Jiwoo sobbing over the fact that she felt bad about losing five softballs in a week or Heejin holding in her tears and simply in need of a good, long hug in the middle of a tiring practice - it had become a welcome part of Jungeun’s daily school life. 

In her first year of being on the softball team, Jungeun had become somewhat of a softie herself. In fact, it took an episode of her being on the brink of total emotional collapse to find a best friend in Sooyoung. Dutiful, stern, tough Sooyoung who had hardly even winced when a misfired curveball pitch fractured her lower arm. Jungeun probably thought of Sooyoung more times in a day than she'd realised. 

Back in Sooyoung’s sophomore year, she had fallen into a training slump after fracturing her arm. She no longer had the motivation to run the 10 laps she had easily completed before, she no longer arrived on campus before sunrise to use the gymnasium before it reeked from the testosterone left by pre-pubescent boys, she no longer felt the drive in her that had set her on the path of the softball captaincy. It had not gone unnoticed by their coach, who had pulled her out of training to sternly remind her of the path she was on. Meanwhile, Jungeun had been looking for her cleats on the opposite side of the cage when she overheard the entire conversation. She spent twenty minutes sitting on the floor of the cage that afternoon, afraid to let Sooyoung know she had heard it all. 

It was the first and only time she had seen Sooyoung cry. 

Jungeun dug through her bag and pulled her phone out from within its contents. She quickly typed out a text to Heejin as she looked cautiously over her shoulder. 

>To: Heejin

‘Heejin, where are you? Sooyoung gonna go mental soon. Hurry!’

She held her breath as she waited for the two ticks to appear next to her text bubble. 

<From: Heejin

‘sorry jungeun omw now ended chem late again’

Jungeun texted back a quick ‘Ok’ and chucked her phone back into the locker as she spun around to address the team. She gestured at them to huddle up as she began to brief the girls.

“Alright! Let’s not waste any more time. I’m sure Heejin will be joining us soon! As you all know, today is going to be the start of our intense training season in preparation for the upcoming National High School Softball League Championships. I really hope that everyone here can be supportive and considerate to one another over the next two months. No doubt, there are gonna be times that you  _ really _ wanna just vent and let your frustration out but let’s all try to remain positive, sounds good? Okay, I’m gonna hand the time over to Captain Ha to brief us on the game plan for the next two months.”

Jungeun shuffled away from the centre and nodded pointedly at Sooyoung. The taller girl took slow, firm steps to the centre of the circle. She brought her arms to rest on her hips as she took her time to scan the team. 

“When I look around this room, I see my family. I see all of you, the girls who have grown up with me over these past four years. Jihan - I remember when you were still a kid from the middle school next door and you came for our softball friendlies every weekend. Hell, I even remember when Jungeun could never find her cleats before every training!” The whole circle burst into giggles as Jungeun’s ears turned red in embarrassment.

Sooyoung smiled fondly at the team. “The point is: We’re a family. And I’m not going to let anyone be left behind this year. We are going to get to the nationals and we’re not going to do it just as a team but as a family. I want to see every single person here put in their 110% into every training. Push yourselves to the brink of where you think your limit is, and then push yourselves just five steps more. I believe in us. I believe in all of you, every single one of you.” 

She stuck out her hand in front of her and eyed the girls with determination. “So, who’s with me? Who’s coming to nationals this year?” The entire team joined in by stacking up their hands on top of Sooyoung’s. 

“On the count of three! One… Two… Three… LEOPARDS!” The whole cage erupted into a bunch of screams and excited whoops from the team who had been brought into a huge team hug by Jiwoo. 

Pulling away, Sooyoung caught onto Jungeun’s shoulder and winked at her. “See you on the court, Vice-Cap.”

Jungeun tilted her head at Sooyoung with a grin plastered across her face, “Already ahead of you, Captain!”

\-- 

Over the term break, Chaewon had become oddly cognisant of two things. The first was that she had been lacing her cleats wrongly for the past two years. All it took was Jungeun catching a three-second glimpse of Chaewon lacing up her cleats in the cage for her to speed over and show the younger girl how to lace them up properly. 

"Let me guess, you've been having to redo your laces endlessly over the past season. Your cleats feel too loose at the toe and too tight at the heel?" Jungeun was kneeling at the foot of the bench, her hands tying a firm knot at the top of Chaewon's cleats. Chaewon could only nod in astonishment as she watched Jungeun secure the laces on her cleats with a firm double knot. "Try it out now!" Jungeun stepped away proudly as she crossed her arms and watched Chaewon take small steps around the bench. It felt so much better. 

The second realisation was that she was definitely, irreversibly falling for Yerim's friend on the yearbook team. Ever since Yerim had been elected as the junior co-editor of the school's yearbook team, she had been spending a lot more time with the yearbook team. More specifically, a certain Son Hyejoo. 

Chaewon sighed as she looked across the field, squinting at Heejin who was lining up her pitch. In her periphery, she could see two blobs of purple and black bobbing across the bleachers. The purple blob stopped in its tracks and started waving furiously in Chaewon’s direction. 

“Chae, that’s one of your friends, right? The purple-haired one with the overly-enthusiastic wave. Wait, the yearbook thing is today? Damn, I must’ve remembered it wrongly,” Sooyoung huffed as she raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Chaewon’s ears pricked up as she turned around to look at the two blobs again. It was Yerim waving at her from the bleachers… which could only mean that the other girl with her was Hyejoo. 

The blonde groaned as she pulled her cap off and ran a hand through her hair. Not only was she sweaty and flushed from training, but her softball cap had also caused her hair to go haywire. She refused to let herself get photographed for the yearbook in this state, much less by Hyejoo. Chaewon pulled her cap back on firmly and took quick, stealthy steps towards the bleachers.

“Yerim… Yerim… Yerim!” Chaewon hissed as she gestured for the other girl to come towards the fence. Yerim hopped off the bleachers and jogged over.

“Hey! What’s up? Brought Hyejoo with me today to get some shots of the team on the field doing… Well, doing whatever you softballers do! Playing ball… Softly?” Yerim awkwardly greeted Chaewon as she waved vaguely in Hyejoo’s direction. 

Chaewon throttled Yerim by the shoulders as she groaned loudly, “WHY? Do you see how  _ disgusting _ I look right now? This is not world-class rapper treatment, Yerim!” She pointed at strands of blond hair which were now plastered across her forehead. She snuck a glance at the taller girl who was still sitting on the bleachers with her eyebrows furrowed as she fiddled with her camera in her lap. Hyejoo was in a dark maroon hoodie and she had her gaze set on the action happening in the field as she lifted the camera up deftly to snap some shots of the team during their training. 

“Uh-huh, I don’t think you’re going to be able to stay mad at me for long. Not with  _ that _ stupid lovesick expression on your face. If only you could see yourself right now!” Yerim flicked Chaewon on the forehead as she grimaced at the expression on the blonde’s face. 

Chaewon frowned and rubbed her forehead as she kept one eye on Hyejoo. “Shut up, Yerim! It’s all your fault that she has to see me looking all sweaty!” Chaewon whined as she pulled at the corner of her shirt to fan herself desperately. 

A loud, shrill whistle shot across the field causing both of the sophomores to jump as they pivoted to look for the source of the sound. “Park Chaewon! No time for slacking!” The team’s softball coach, Coach Moon, yelled at her as she pointed exasperatedly at the rest of the team who was awkwardly waiting for Chaewon to jog back across the field. 

“You owe me for this, sweaty!” Yerim winked as she called after Chaewon. Reaching an epiphany, she hurriedly flicked through her notepad and made a quick note. “Stay away from the softball coach… Very… Cranky… ” She muttered. 

\--

Jinsol sipped on her carton of milk angrily as she eyed the softball table across from her with contempt. She was still upset at herself for letting Ha Sooyoung get under her skin, and even more frustrated at the fact that she thought it was kind of hot. A loud gurgle rumbled from within the carton as Jinsol continued to sip from the now-empty paper box. 

“Haseul… Is she okay? She looks… like she’s having a hard time.” Vivi nudged Haseul with the edge of her fork as she nodded in the direction of the girl who was now scrunching the paper milk carton in her fist. The other girl winced as she slid her purse off her lap and leaned across the table to whisper to Vivi. “Honestly, I’ve never seen her like this before. It’s so weird for her to be this intense and I can’t say I’m digging it.” Haseul’s eyes narrowed as they shifted between Vivi and Jinsol. 

As if on cue, Jinsol spun around and pointed her hand in Haseul and Vivi’s direction as she looked sternly at the both of them. “I think I have a way of convincing Sooyoung to ease up on Heejin. All I have to do is remind her of how tough it is to understand tenth-grader calculus. I mean, it’s two-step integration!” Jinsol’s eyes flitted between the two other girls who were just staring at her in bewilderment. 

They let out a collective sigh as Jinsol raised her hands in defeat, “I hate this! What am I gonna do about it?” She dramatically slammed her head into the table as she massaged her temples. For a week now, she had been thinking of ways to convince Sooyoung to let Heejin attend the tutoring sessions at least once a week. It was not an unreasonable proposal by far, but somehow she had an irking feeling that whatever she said would get immediately shot down by the softball captain. 

Previously, Jinsol had hardly encountered any problems with her tutoring sessions. She had perfectly obedient mentees, accommodating teachers and seniors, a well-rounded work plan — she was unstoppable. This whole situation was a weird blip on her radar of perfect work plans and impeccably organised schedules and it irked her endlessly. Even seeing the stupidly attractive captain from across the cafeteria was enough for her to feel the heat under her collar building up now, and it would only bother her more if she let Sooyoung get away with it. 

“I’m going to talk to her again, probably make a more persuasive case this time.” Jinsol was full of determination as she shook the crumpled milk carton at Haseul and Vivi pointedly. Haseul shrugged as she turned her attention to the pile of fries in front of her, “The last time I said that about anyone, it was about convincing Yeojin to eat something besides McNuggets and it did not end well.”

Jinsol snorted, “I think the captain of the softball team would be easier to convince than the seven year old you babysit, Seul… Right?”

\-- 

Whenever they trained past the early hours of the evening, the whole softball team would wait for the sun to set together. Huddled together in a row on the bleachers, the girls would catch up on their day as they watched the sky turn shades of pink, purple and yellow. It was one of Sooyoung’s favourite parts of being a part of the team, it allowed her to really communicate with the girls without the pressure of being a captain. 

In her first year on the softball team’s leadership committee, Sooyoung struggled. It was hard for her to put the team’s performance over everything else, especially over the happiness of her teammates. Sooyoung could feel her heart twisting inside of her chest every time she had to criticise the team’s lack of effort or convey some bad news from their coach. Seeing the look of disappointment and frustration on the faces of her teammates always struck a nerve within her that made her feel guilty even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. That year, she could hardly keep track of the number of times she had to swallow her feelings, grit her teeth, put on a tough front and apply pressure on the girls, only to go home later that day to lie soundlessly on her bed as tears welled up in her eyes. Sooyoung hated to admit it but this was tiring, even though she loved the girls as much as she loved the sport, being a part of a team that relied so heavily on her was exhausting.

Leaning over with her hand beneath her chin, Sooyoung quirked an eyebrow at Jungeun. “So, what’s your plan of attack? Our stalemate for planning ends tomorrow,” Sooyoung playfully reminded the younger girl. Jungeun scoffed as she crossed her arms and looked at Sooyoung with an unreadable expression, “And why would I be sharing my plan with you? As far as I’m concerned right now, you’re next top sugar mommy of the year.” The two girls broke into a fit of laughter as Jungeun winked seductively at Sooyoung. 

“You got me there, though. I haven’t given it much thought, but I definitely want to find a way to make her not hate me as much. Have you seen the looks she’s been giving me? It’s looking more like ‘fuck you’ rather than ‘fuck me’ right now,” the corners of Sooyoung’s lips curled into a smirk as she shot a look at Jungeun. 

Jiwoo and Chaewon spun around at the same time, a horrified look written across both their faces as their mouths began to contort into a cross between a frown and a gasp. “See! I told you these two were making things weird all the time now!” Jiwoo cried as she slapped Sooyoung’s knee repeatedly in disgust. 

Chaewon simply rolled her eyes as she pulled her Airpods out of their case and slipped them in her ears, “Maybe if you guys streamed my newest mixtape…” 

\-- 

If she had to be fair to Jinsol, she had definitely caught her at a bad time. The first few weeks of a new term were always chucked full of pop quizzes and re-evaluation tests, especially for the graduating batch. Sooyoung sat on the edge of the wooden desk in front of Jinsol, swinging her feet back and forth as she watched the blonde continue to sleep peacefully in front of her. She watched as the other girl’s back rose and fell in a steady rhythm with her hands clasped together below her forehead. 

“She actually looks cute right now…” Sooyoung muttered as she searched for something to poke Jinsol awake with. Her eyes silently traced the contours of Jinsol's face. Her jaw, the curve of her nose, the apex of her cupid's bow. Sooyoung had to admit that no matter what she felt towards Jinsol, it was undeniable that the latter was unquestionably beautiful even while she slept. Quietly, she lifted Jinsol’s pencil case off the table and pulled a ruler out from within. 

Jinsol awoke to the feeling of something prodding into her right elbow. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly, she groaned as she propped herself up on her elbows and attempted to see who was disrupting her midday power nap. A pair of dusty pink chucks were swinging lazily from the desk in front of her as she blinked and continued to sit up in her chair. 

“Sorry, is there another class here right now or-” Jinsol’s breath hitched in her throat as she realised who the owner of the chucks were. She shot up with unexpected energy as her face immediately screwed up into a scowl. “What do you want? You’ve already made it clear that you don’t know who I am and that you don’t care about what happens to Heejin,” Jinsol said aggravatedly as she leaned over the table to snatch the ruler out of Sooyoung’s hands. Sooyoung sighed as she tilted her head to look at Jinsol. 

The softball captain licked her lips pensively as she raised her eyebrows at Jinsol, “Why do you always have to be so confrontational, Jinsol? I’m here to apologise.” Jinsol’s eyes narrowed as she glanced to her side to make sure it wasn’t just a prank that was being played on her. 

“Admittedly, it was a shitty move on my part and I'm sorry. I care about that kid very much and I respect what you’re trying to do. And yeah, I definitely shouldn’t have cussed at you. Let me make it up to you,” Sooyoung had a tone of sincerity as far as Jinsol could tell. The blonde leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Alright, and how exactly do you plan to convince me to even consider forgiving you?”

Sooyoung paused, she really hadn’t thought this far. She hesitated. 

“Well- That’s the best part. Why don’t  _ you _ tell  _ me _ how I can make it up to you? I’ll do whatever you want me to do to earn your forgiveness. Just say the word,  _ Jinsol _ .” 

Jinsol frowned as she looked at Sooyoung exasperatedly, “So you decided to seek me out, to come into my homeroom, to wake me up from a power nap — all to tell me you don’t even know what you’re going to do to earn my forgiveness? You’re a funny one, I’ll have to give you that.”

The taller girl let out a soft chuckle as she leaned closer to Jinsol. “When I said  _ anything _ , I meant anything at all,” Sooyoung’s voice sent a shiver down Jinsol’s spine. Jinsol considered all the possible options in front of her. This was a chance for her to get Sooyoung to do literally anything for her and she wasn’t going to let it go to waste. 

“Okay, here’s the deal. You and me, once a week, I’m teaching you everything you need to know to help Heejin with her math. Since you won’t let me go through calculus with Heejin myself, you’re going to do it for me,” Jinsoul said with a hint of smugness. 

Sooyoung’s nose wrinkled, “No, nope. I said I’ll do anything. It was a singular ‘thing’, not a weekly thing.”

Jinsol shrugged and put on an exaggerated frown, “Well, then I guess you’ll just have to live with your guilt then.” She began to throw the rest of her stationery into her pencil case as she pulled her bag up onto her lap. 

Sooyoung paused. She could work with this, actually. Perhaps the key to her winning her bet with Jungeun would be Jinsol’s ridiculous idea of amends.

“Okay fine, but you have to promise not to issue me any homework,” Sooyoung conceded as she lifted her hands up in mock defeat. She watched as Jinsol looked up in shock, clearly surprised that she had actually accepted the offer. The blonde’s fixed gaze hovered on Sooyoung for a brief few seconds before she finally managed to come up with a reply. 

“It’s a tutoring session, Sooyoung. Of course I’ll be giving you homework,” Jinsol quipped as she tried to contain the smile that was itching to form on her lips. Sooyoung smirked as she pulled her phone out of her jacket pocket and extended it to Jinsol. 

“Not to be too forward, but could a pretty girl like you spare me her number? Even if it  _ is  _ just to tell me to do my homework?” 

Jinsoul scoffed as she hastily took the phone from Sooyoung and keyed in her number, “Oh, please.” 

“Please what?” Sooyoung quickly quipped, her teasing tone quickly finding its way under Jinsol’s skin. Jinsol tried her best to conceal the redness which was spreading across her cheeks and the tips of her ears. 

“Please delete my number right now if that’s the way things are going to be for the rest of the damn sessions.”

\-- 

It was close to midnight when Chaewon heard her phone vibrate from all the way across her bedroom. Looking away from her laptop, she grumbled quietly as she slid off her bed and shuffled across the room. Her phone had been vibrating on and off for the past few minutes and it was actually starting to bug her now. Unlocking her phone, she was greeted by a bunch of texts from Yerim. 

[Seven (7) New Texts from yerim thee stallion]

> yerim thee stallion

‘yo chaewon minaj’

‘miss new age nicki’

‘reply to me or literally perish single u thot’

‘i am this close to unsaving your mixtape on soundcloud rn’

‘girl im SERIOUS i didnt come to play games’

‘wtf are u even busy with anyways u dont even do ur homework’

‘ITS HYEJOO RELATED COME ONLINE!!!!’

Chaewon’s eyes widened in excitement as she quickly typed out her response. 

<chaewon

‘yes whats up im here i heard u say hyejoo’

‘it better be worth it’

‘if this isnt about hyejoo i will literally release a diss track about u on my next mixtape’

>yerim thee stallion

‘ok can u chill and yes it is actually about hyejoo jeez’

‘she showed me some cool pictures she took of u and the team’

‘u actually look really good in some of them… no h0m0’

<chaewon

‘oh hyejoo outsold?’

‘WAIT NO she took them today????’

‘shsjkskshsjkss NOOOOOOOOOO she immortalised my clownery’

‘wait but i still wanna see them tho gimme it’

<yerim thee stallion has attached Twelve (12) Pictures>

>yerim thee stallion

‘i like the fourth one’

<chaewon

‘wtf im not even in that one’

>yerim thee stallion

‘yeah u are ure in the back and u look like shrek there lmaooo’

<chaewon

‘u did me dirty’

‘delete that rn DELETE’

‘oh wait whys she so talented she made sooyoung look so soft here its weird but also cute????’

‘lemme show the girls ^-^’ 

[the itty bitty titty committee - Five (5) Members are ONLINE]

<chaewon

‘the yearbook team took some cute photos of us today ^-^’

‘sooyoung u look cute in one of them’

‘oh and jiwoo u sneezed in one of them lmaooo u were in the corner tho’

>jiwoOooOooO

‘why do i look so good sneezing’

‘omg sooyoung come online u look so cute’

‘the way i’ve never seen sooyoung so wholesome before’

>jungie 

‘Oh wow wholesome Sooyoung’

‘Never thought it would happen and didn’t know it actually existed’

‘Hey I look good in that one’

‘New display picture!’

<chaewon

‘yay i like it!’

<lil heejin

‘these were loading for so long fml’

‘aw theyre so good’

‘who even took these???’

<chaewon

‘hyejoo took them…’

>jiwoOooOooO

‘u mean hyejoo like ur crush’

>lil heejin

‘oooooooo hyejoo took these huh’

‘heh’

‘lol i see why u were so excited to show us now’

<chaewon

‘STFU’

>jungie

‘Please thank her for us they look so nice’

‘Cool pictures I think’

[captain hag is ONLINE]

>captain hag

‘lol chaewon’

‘ur girl took some nice pics of us’

‘haha’

‘wait no she took that pic of me its kinda weird’

‘wtv go thank ur girl for us’

>lil heejin

‘chaewons WHAT’

>jiwoOooOooO 

‘UR GIRL????? CHAEWON LMAOOO r u gonna let her get away with this’

<chaewon

‘yes i dont bully old people ^-^’

>jungie

‘Oh ouch Sooyoung’

‘Good one Chae’

>captain hag

‘...’

‘ure running 10 rounds next sesh’

<chaewon

‘wait no i take it back’

>captain hag 

‘no take backs’

‘anyways gays i managed to find a way to make it up to jinsol lol’

‘it is very sucky tho’

‘i’ll catch u up tmr goodnight’

>jiwoOooOooO

‘so ure leaving us hanging’

‘u suck ass’

>jungie

‘Wait what’

‘Sooyoung no’

\--

Even from a distance, Haseul and Vivi could see Jinsol grinning from ear to ear. Jinsol was in her favourite blue collegiate hoodie and her usual blue baseball cap to match as she happily strolled towards the bus stop. “Morning, guys! Hope the both of you slept well last night!” Jinsol beamed at the pair as she pulled her phone out to check the bus schedule.

Vivi and Haseul exchanged a confused glance as they both watched Jinsol hum while scrolling through the bus schedule. “What’s up with you this morning? You look way too happy for someone who has two assessments today. Now, spill the beans!” Haseul demanded as she shot a look at Jinsol who was still smiling. 

“I managed to convince Sooyoung to do me a favour,” Jinsol declared proudly, “She actually came over to apologise to me yesterday!”

Haseul shook her head in confusion as she held a hand up to Jinsol’s face. “Hold on. So, you’re telling me Ha Sooyoung came up to you on her own accord to apologise to you?”

Jinsol nodded, “Yup! She even offered to make amends! So, I convinced her to help Heejin between practices and training sessions instead. I'm gonna be running through the calculus questions that Hyunjin had problems completing with Sooyoung after school today and then, we'll just have to hope she can actually help Heejin with them.”

The shorter girl looked at Jinsol skeptically. “Does none of this seem kind of weird to you? I mean, just last week, the both of you were  _ this  _ close to murdering one another. In fact, yesterday you practically killed a milk carton just by looking in the direction of her  _ cafeteria table _ . Make it make  _ sense _ , Jinsol!” Haseul groaned as she looked to Vivi for affirmation.

Vivi simply nodded along sympathetically as she awkwardly shot a thumbs up at Haseul. 

“Maybe I judged her too quickly? Really, she sounded so genuine yesterday. Anyways, it wouldn’t hurt to give her the benefit of the doubt,” Jinsoul sighed as she continued to keep an eye out for the bus. 

Haseul tutted as she pulled her Burberry coat tighter around herself, "Don't make me have to say 'I told you so!' in a month or two and we'll be all good here." 

\-- 

The six girls huddled over the singular glow emitting from Sooyoung’s phone as their jaws hung open in shock. It was right in front of them, the contact on Sooyoung's phone that read 'Jung Jinsol'. They couldn't believe that their captain had somehow managed to convince Jinsol to hand over her number. The softball captain picked her phone up from the bench and shoved it back into her backpack as she turned to flash a smug expression at the rest of the girls. 

"I can't believe you're going to be redo-ing tenth grade calculus in your free time just for the sake of a bet! You're sick for that…" Jiwoo shuddered as she recalled the daunting mathematics lessons she had to endure the year before. Chaewon nodded understandingly as she thought about the two math assignments that were lurking somewhere within her own backpack. 

Heejin's eyebrows furrowed as she let out a short chuckle, "I don't get it! What's the difference between Jinsol teaching me after school and you teaching me between training breaks? No offence, Capt, but I’m pretty sure Jinsol is way better than you at math. She said she ranked second last year in the entire batch for math."

Sooyoung gasped indignantly as her eyes grew wide, "And what if I told you I was 13th in the batch? It may not look like it but math is actually my best subject, alright?" 

The younger girl shrugged disinterestedly as she turned to Jungeun. "Jungeun, what about you? Made any smooth moves yet?" 

Jungeun was still recoiling from the shock of being beaten so early on the bet as she blankly shook her head. She bit her bottom lip as she considered her options. 

“I’ll think about it!” 

\-- 

The cafe was practically silent, save for the whirring of the electric fans overhead and the steady swirl of ice cubes inside glasses. Jinsol’s eyes followed the beads of condensation which were racing down the sides of her glass as she checked her phone once again for the time. She had been waiting for Sooyoung for about twenty minutes now. Granted, it was normal for physical training sessions to overrun but it was really starting to bother her that she had even agreed to stay behind after a long day of classes just to teach a senior how to do tenth grade calculus. 

Just two hours before, Hyunjin had rushed into the cafe with her notes and textbooks haphazardly stacked in her arms. She was extremely flustered, glasses sliding down the tip of her nose as she tried to balance the stack in her arms and the dainty purse slung around her shoulder. Falling into her seat with a huff, Hyunjin panted lightly, “Sorry for being a little late, chemistry ended later than I expected!”

Jinsol waved it off as she gestured at the blueberry muffin on the plate in front of Hyunjin’s seat. “No worries, I noticed you preferred the blueberry one last week? Hope it’s still warm, it’s been here for awhile,” she pouted as she eyed the muffin. Hyunjin’s eyes widened as she let out a small happy sound and lifted a fork to poke at the muffin. “Thanks for this! I haven’t had a break all day. You’re the best!” Hyunjin mumbled through a mouth of muffin. 

After a few pages of calculus questions, the younger girl was starting to become confused by all the numbers in front of her. She deftly pressed on the keys of her calculator as she tilted her head to refer between the questions and her answers. Hyunjin groaned as she rested her forehead on her palm, upset at the fact that she had gotten the wrong answers again. “How do you do this, Jinsol? This is torture!” Hyunjin lamented as she ripped a fresh page of notepad paper out to re-attempt the question. 

Jinsol chuckled lightly as she turned the notepad towards her and patted Hyunjin on the shoulder. “Alright, let’s go through this one more time,” she smiled as she lifted a pencil and began to write out the equations for the nth time that day.

Finally, the haggard looking softball captain entered the cafe. She had her hair in a ponytail with a cap shielding her eyes as she tightened her grip on her duffle bag. Jinsol had never actually encountered the softballers after their practice before. After all, she hated staying behind on campus into the evenings, considering she lived far away and had to wait ridiculously long for her bus to arrive everyday. Sooyoung’s lanky frame seemed to lack her usual energy as she pulled the chair back to slide into her seat. 

“Shit, sorry for being so late. I had to go take a shower after practice and all the usual,” Sooyoung’s tone was exhausted as she leaned down to pull a notepad out of her bag. Jinsol couldn’t help but feel worried for the taller girl as she watched her pull off her cap and run a hand through her hair lethargically. 

“It’s fine, I had to meet up with Hyunjin earlier anyways. Shall we get started before the sun sets?” Jinsol said lightheartedly as she pointed at the clock on the cafe wall. Sooyoung hummed in agreement as she propped her chin up on the back of her hand. 

An hour passed quickly. Sooyoung watched silently as Jinsol ran through a myriad of calculus questions that she barely understood any more. Clearly, she had underestimated the difficulty of tenth grade math when she got herself into this. She watched as Jinsol explained the solutions in a lively manner, her eyes lighting up every time they reached the final solution to a question. Jinsol’s jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed as she keyed a string of equations into the calculator sitting in the space on the table between the two of them. 

“Actually, Sooyoung, why don’t you try this one out? Let me see if you got any of that,” Jinsol paused as she looked at Sooyoung with confidence. Sooyoung frowned a little as she straightened up in her chair and reached over for the calculator, brushing fingers with Jinsol. 

Jinsol let out a small squeak as she pulled her hand away abruptly. Sooyoung let out a chuckle, “Relax. I’m not even flirting with you yet, Jinsol.” The softball captain lifted the calculator and a pencil as she began to work through the question in front of her. Honestly, she could hardly interpret the symbols in front of her. She penciled out a few random equations and slid her notepad over to Jinsol. 

“I don’t have high hopes for this,” Sooyoung sighed out as she watched Jinsol’s eyes widen and narrow as she read her answers. The blonde was furiously circling parts of Sooyoung’s solution as she began to frown lightly. “Well, at least you caught the gist of it? You had some major conceptual errors here and here but I think you’re getting there. Why don’t we try to complete a few more—” Jinsol was cut off by the yawn that Sooyoung let out. 

Sooyoung waved her hand at Jinsol, “No, continue. Don’t let me interrupt you.” She said this without a trace of sarcasm as she gestured for Jinsol to continue with her sentence. Jinsol sighed and put her pencil down. 

“Sooyoung, if you need to take a rest for today, it’s fine. We can always continue the next time you’re free.” Jinsol looked at Sooyoung with concern as she began to close her notepad and keep her calculator. 

“I can hardly tell you when I’ll be free after practice again—”

“What about weekends? Does that sound good for you?”

“Yeah, probably. I’ll find time after our weekend training for this. You’re free all weekend, I presume?” Sooyoung grinned mischievously as she eyed Jinsol’s insulted expression. 

Jinsol scoffed, “Contrary to your beliefs, I do have a life outside of school.” A lie, but a necessary one to get Sooyoung off her back.

The taller girl let out a sarcastic “woah” as she leaned against the back of her chair. “Pray tell, Jinsol. What ever does a pretty girl like you get up to on the weekend? Group study?”

Yet another insulted glare from Jinsol. “You've got to quit calling me that and no, I do things. Socialising things!”

“Prove it,” Sooyoung teased as the corner of her lip curled upwards at Jinsol. 

“How? How exactly do you want me to  _ prove  _ that I do something else besides work on the weekend? Follow me around as I run my errands?”

Sooyoung interjected, “Psh… You’re no fun. Here, let me give you a fun little weekend suggestion. I’ll meet you for our little study session wherever you want. After that, you come with me to a party.”

“What? No! Why would I agree to that?”

“You’re the one who wants to prove that she does  _ socialising things  _ on the weekends, right? So, prove it to me,” Sooyoung extended her hand to tap Jinsol under the chin.

Jinsol turned shades of pink as she looked away to let out a small awkward cough. She wouldn’t back down from a fight this easily, not again. 

“Fine. Text me the details of your stupid party and I’ll tell you where to meet for the next studying session.”

Sooyoung smirked, “I won’t forget.”

\-- 

The sound of her sneakers hitting the wooden floor of the apartment reverberated down the hallway as Jinsol chucked her backpack on the floor and slumped on the sofa. Her parents must have been working late again that night. She tilted her head and watched as the little cat figurine on their kitchen countertop waved back and forth at her. 

Getting up, Jinsol made her way to the kitchen and yanked the sticky note off the fridge door. 

‘Jinsol-

Working late again tonight, sorry! Make sure you get a good dinner and then have a rest. Don’t stay up too late doing work. Buy yourself some dinner with the money on the countertop! Mom loves you!’

Jinsol smiled as she ran a finger over the small heart her mom had drawn in the corner of her note. Sliding the ten-dollar bill off the kitchen countertop, she contemplated cooking a whole meal on her own. “Argh, too lazy…” She grumbled as she thought about all the washing up she would have to do afterwards. Maybe she could just get some noodles and a hotdog from the convenience store nearby? 

She lifted her tote bag off the rack next to the door and chucked her wallet and phone inside as she slid her Vans on. “Gotta remember to lock the door this time, whoops!” Jinsol said to herself as she made note to remember her keys which were hanging on a hook next to the door. 

The cold fluorescent glow of the convenience store was oddly welcoming as Jinsol approached the 7-Eleven across the road from her house. Stepping past the doors, she was greeted by the familiar ‘ding dong’ of the welcome bell. Jinsol headed straight for the refrigerated food section as she scanned the shelves for a cheesy hotdog. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Jinsol?” It was Jungeun, dressed in a maroon hoodie with her sweats sitting low on her hips. She had an eyebrow raised as she cocked her head at Jinsol. Jinsol jerked up with a start, accidentally stepping on Jungeun’s shoe as she spun around. The younger girl hissed as she bit on her lip to avoid cursing out loud as she put her hands on Jinsol’s shoulders to steady her. 

“It’s me, Jungeun. Jungeun from the softball team? Thought I saw you from across the aisle and came over to say hi,” Jungeun scratched the back of her neck as she watched Jinsol smile sheepishly at her.

The blonde giggled awkwardly as she waved the cheesy hotdog at Jungeun, “Oh… Yes, Jungeun! Hi Jungeun! Just getting my dinner over here… Good ol’ cheesy hotdog, huh?” 

Jungeun felt a tinge of warmth in her cheeks as she watched the other girl awkwardly wave the hotdog at her. “You live near here too?” Jungeun enquired as she pointed her thumb towards the windows of the store. 

“Yep, I live at the apartments just across from here. What about you?”

“Hmm, I live about two blocks down from here. Really fancy dinner plans you got there,” Jungeun pointed at the cheesy hotdog in Jinsol’s hands, which was now joined by a cup of noodles. Jinsol hid them behind her back teasingly, rolling her eyes at Jungeun.

“Hey! These are Michelin star cuisine worthy. Don’t underestimate the humble hotdog and cup noodles combi…” Jinsol looked at the hotdog lovingly as she patted it gently. 

Jungeun stifled a laugh, “Alright… But hey, I know a little place around the corner which sells the best tteokbokki. Why don’t we go check it out? My treat!”

The older girl’s eyes widened. She had missed eating tteokbokki for awhile now, it was something she only ate when she visited her grandma or when she was having an emotional breakdown. Nonetheless, the thought of having tteokbokki with Jungeun was definitely better than having an instant noodle dinner at home, alone. 

“Alright, but only if you let me owe you one!” 

Jungeun nodded as she flashed a grin at Jinsol, “Yeah, definitely.”

Over their dinner, the two girls exchanged plenty of laughs as they talked about everything under the sun. Jinsol was warming up to the softball vice-captain as she realised more with every minute that they actually had plenty in common. 

“Wait, what? You’re a baseball fan? No way… You don’t look like it!”

Jinsol playfully slapped Jungeun on the arm as she made a shocked expression. “My dad and I have been watching baseball ever since I was old enough to understand the game!”

“Really? And which is your favourite team then?” Jungeun challenged as she smiled smugly at Jinsol.

“Easy, my favourite team on the current roster are the West State Tigers. Their teamwork is flawless. How are they real? They haven’t allowed their opponents to score a  _ single  _ home run this season. Not even one!” Jinsol enthused as she wagged her finger excitedly. 

Jungeun perked up, “Wait, what? Nah! The Tigers are kind of old news… Their plays are so overused…” 

“Hey.  _ Old, but gold _ ,” Jinsol quickly fired back as she crossed her arms and pouted.

“You sound exactly like Sooyoung right now. She likes that damned team too— Hey, I heard the both of you had a thing today. How’d it go?”

Jinsol froze, “A  _ thing _ ?”

“As in- Uh- Like, a thing where the both of you covered tenth grader math? Sooyoung practically ran off after practice, we assumed it was for the studying thing the both of you had.”

“Ah… Yeah. It was alright, we covered some calculus and trigonometry. Sin, cosine, tangents, all of them. She looked tired, though. Did you guys train hard?”

Jungeun nodded as she brought her hand to the back of her neck, “Hmm, yeah. Sooyoung’s got us all on her intense training schedule nowadays. Killer, actually. I can’t even feel my arms anymore.”

Jinsol’s eyebrows frowned in sympathy as she rubbed Jungeun’s arm gently, causing the younger girl to go stiff. “Hey, don’t overexert yeah? I’m counting on you to be my favourite, most tolerable member of the softball team!” Jinsol let out a laugh as she looked warmly at Jungeun.

The both girls sank into silence as Jinsol slowly retracted her hand from Jungeun’s arm. 

“Hey, I’ll walk you back. It’s getting late. Let me just get the bill first.”

“Noooo… You were such good company! It’s fine, I’ll pay for it.”

“You just— It’s fine, I’ll pay for it. All you have to do is give me your number,” Jungeun winked at Jinsol and shot her fingerguns. 

“Ugh, cheesy. But I’ll allow it, on account of you being the best dinner company I’ve had in a long while,” Jinsol did her best to conceal the blush spreading across her cheeks as she scribbled her number on the back of Jungeun’s receipt.

Jungeun hummed, “I like your phone number. It’s got a lot of ‘6’s, they’re my favourite number.”

“Aw, that’s nice! Make sure you text me later so I’ll have yours too!”

“For sure.”

\--

Heejin was lying on the floor of her bedroom with her laptop hanging over her face when she was startled by the sudden vibration of her phone. Her laptop fell from its position on her lap, smacking her square in the face as she stumbled up from the floor. “What now…” She grumbled as she palmed her phone and turned it over to check her messages. 

[Two (2) New Texts from the itty bitty titty committee]

>captain sooyoung

‘guess what aha’

‘actually no guess WHO has weekend plans’

<heejin is ONLINE>

<heejin

‘whats dis about’

‘o wait no forget i asked’

>vice captain jungeun

‘Oh please we already know lmao’

‘Anyways I had a good dinner ;)’

>jiwoo

‘stop wasting my time and give me DEETS gays’

>GOwon

‘what she said’

>captain sooyoung

‘lol jungeun hoes mad’

‘anywaysssss this saturday… party over at seulgi’s’ 

‘im bringing a friend’

>jiwoo

‘JINSOL?????’

‘omg sooyoung u mad for that’

‘JUNGEUN!!!! wydwyd’

>vice captain jungeun

‘Nah Sooyoung can have fun at her party’

‘Take good care of my neighbour please’

<heejin

‘ur what’

‘neighbour????’

>captain sooyoung

‘wait what’

>vice captain jungeun

‘Yup’

>GOwon

‘oooooo shits getting real’

‘its on like donkey kong’

<heejin

‘pls never use that again’

>GOwon

‘ON LIKE DONKEY KONG’

‘idc’

<heejin

‘im blocking u’

‘ok wait later hyunjins calling me uwu’

Heejin lifted the phone to her ear as she cleared her throat.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“HEEKKI! I have a little problem. So, you know how we have that fundraiser coming up soon? The one where we sell little cat trinkets and also allow everyone to play with kitties and— Oh, you get it. Anyways, the problem is… OUR PRESIDENT JUST QUIT! Now, I’m in charge!” Hyunjin practically rapped as she shouted exasperatedly into the phone.

Heejin sighed, “Okay wait. So, what’s the problem? You practically planned the whole thing. You got this!”

“The problem is not my self confidence, Heekki! It’s that they only allow 11th and 12th graders to sign off on project proposal forms and stuff! Newsflash? We’re in the  _ tenth grade _ ! Ugh! Where am I going to find a junior or senior to help us? They’re literally all enrolled in something!”

“Wait, that’s not true. We both know one senior who is… Not in a club…”

“OMG! You’re right! JINSOL! Oh god, yes! She could be cat jesus. You’re a lifesaver, Heekki. Love ya, got to go call Jinsol now!”

“No problem…”

“HOLD ON! I just realised, what did the softball team do for the Lunares Gives Back thing this year?”

Heejin paused, she was also struck by the sudden realisation that they hadn’t done anything yet.

“Hyunjin… Any chance… You could sneak some softball cats into the program?”

Hyunjin groaned over the line as she sucked in a breath, “You better be glad I love you. Anyways, okay! Bye! Go tell Sooyoung or Jungeun or someone!” 

Heejin returned to her messages, as she pulled up the softball chat group.

<heejin

‘hey guys so u remember that charity thing we totally forgot about’

>vice captain jungeun

‘Fuck’

>captain sooyoung

‘shit’

<heejin 

‘good news is that i found a solution!!!’

>jiwoo

‘ok and whats the bad news’

<heejin

‘um it sort of involves the kitty rescue club… there will be cats’

>captain sooyoung

‘NO’

‘no cats!!!!’

>vice captain jungeun

‘Do we have a choice Sooyoung’

‘Cats are nice I like them’

>captain sooyoung

‘jungeun u know they hate me’

‘they give me the evil eye’

>GOwon

‘cats give everyone the evil eye’

‘what r u on’

>vice captain jungeun

‘Ok guys can we pls make do with the cats’

‘Unless you wanna plan a whole new charity thing’

‘Idk about you but I’m too lazy for that’

>captain sooyoung

‘ugh ure right’

‘okay fine the cats stay’

\--

Jungeun was leaning against the railing of her balcony, thinking of the dinner she’d just had and the whole new charity project that the team had to work on. There was something about being able to feel the night breeze on her face that made her feel extra pensive. Granted, she had always been an early sleeper but tonight just felt like one of those nights. Suddenly, the phone in her back pocket vibrated again.

“What now?” Jungeun grumbled as she lazily pulled the phone back out.

[One (1) New Text from Jung Jinsol]

‘hiii jungeun! thanks for sending me back just now and i hope ure back home safely :] i forgot to reply earlier but here i am now :]’

A smile was slowly forming on Jungeun’s face as she glanced back up at the city skyline. She had Jinsol on her mind for the night.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was really fun to write, so I hope it was just as fun to read. Until next time!


End file.
